Category: Yoga

Hiro Landazuri is a yoga teacher and photographer with a background in medicine.

He first connected with yoga 17 years ago and is a true believer of Emotional and Body Intelligence which links to functional movement. Join Jen and Hiro into uncovering how comfort zones may not be where we want to be, if we want to grow.

In this episode, discover more about Jen’s journey in her practice and what inspires her to start Yoga Daily. Yoga Daily is created with the intention to share, give, teach, mentor and hopefully inspire and empower all of us to be the better version of ourselves.

So i was doing a little reading online and found this article by one of my favourite yogi, Kino Macgregor on mind body green to be really really good.

Here i would like to repost some of the quotes from that article that brought some thoughts into my daily sadhana.

There are traditionally three qualifications that constitute a firm ground for the (yoga) practice:

1. You have to commit to the practice for a long time, perhaps for your entire life, before you can expect to see measurable results.

This framework removes the ego’s attachment to getting anywhere fast in the practice.

2. Second, you should practice with continuity and regularity both on and off the mat.

As much as you are willing to put in the effort the practice will give back to you. But if you waver in your commitment to practice and to allow the practice to transform your whole life then you will waver in your journey. Only you can unroll your mat and practice. And only you can commit your whole life’s journey to the spiritual side of the practice.

3. Your intention and sincerity matter.

If you come to the yoga practice with the assumption that it’s just about getting a thin yoga body and a solid handstand, then it will only take you to the most superficial level of the practice. If you do your practice merely for health benefits, you will certainly feel better and have more energy, but even this is not the true depth available within the context of yoga. In order to really get the deepest benefit from the practice, you have to set your intention on the spiritual journey of yoga. If you know that your reason for doing the practice is to be a more peaceful, happy, and joyful person, then all the necessary lessons that lead to that result will become evident through the vehicle of the practice.

You might say that’s a lot to ask of a simple Downward Facing Dog, and you’re right. Except it’s not only a lot to ask of the posture, it’s a lot to ask of you, if you choose to practice yoga. Most social conditioning is built around the principle that it is possible to live in a pain-free, quality controlled, optimized temperature environment. Think about the ultimate customer service experience that we each look for as consumers.

Everything about this “modern” style of consumption seeks to keep the consumer in a perfect bubble where the customer is always right. We are taught how to hold on to pleasure and attempt eradicate sources of pain in a failed effort to keep the world at our ideal sweet spot. The reality of life is that no matter how much we try this “reality” is never ideal. There is almost always something that you would rather do without, like a traffic jam, a bill in the mailbox, dirty laundry or a squeaking noise from the fan. Yoga is not about getting rid of all these things and controlling your environment. Yoga is about keeping your peace of mind regardless of whether you experience ease and flow or stuckness and difficulty. Changing external situations is a losing battle, but gaining control of your own nervous system is something that you can truly master. – By Kino Macgregor

What do you seek in your daily yoga sadhanas? What is your intentions and goals? What is it that you practice. Lately i am telling myself the reasons i practice yoga every morning when i wake up. Sometimes i practice gratitude. Sometimes Transformation. Sometimes i practice Asteya. Santosha. Letting Go.

There is so many things to practice everyday and i find that giving myself something to focus on to practice when i wake up in the morning changes the routes of my whole day. It also changes my perception of all the situation that happens along the day. For example, when i am practising gratitude, i am saying thanks from the bottom my heart to each and every being that has helped or indirectly helped me in any way possible throughout the day. Immediately after i say thanks, i feel my body become lighter as i bow in gratitude to other people’s kindness and help for me. And the simple thank you and gratitude have to matter and come from within and not something that i say half heartedly just because i am practising gratitude.

These daily intentions that i set for myself everyday have changed me in so many dimensions. As such, this entry is written and reposted for myself whenever i get distracted or troubled from a hard day. Taking a step back to look into the journey and the truth that matters instead of the problems and scenarios that trigger our daily lives and take us away from our true self.

I thought about it as the month have passed by and realised how imperfect, we, as humans are. In fact, i started to realise how imperfect I am.

Everyday we are bombarded by life’s challenges and how can we remain perfect in our actions when things do not go our way? How can we be God and Saint-like when people trigger our emotions, extreme situations challenge our personality and emotions get in the way? How do we remain composed and positive?

I found the answer in a simple situation that happened to me recently. It took me few seconds to react, but an instant to know i was doing the wrong thing… and a whole day of regret of my words and actions.

I find that if i simply just let situations materialise in my brains for a while more, i would have reacted differently. Chose smarter words to say. And likely created a different turn of events.

A few more seconds of digesting the action before i create a reaction.

Yoga Nidra is also known as Yogic Sleep, Psychic Sleep and Lucid Sleeping, is an altered state of consciousness. It is the state of deep sleep where the mind remains conscious and aware. The practice, as it is known today, was developed by Swami Satyananda during the 1980s. He talks about yoga nidra as the deepest state of relaxation where the body goes into sleep mode but the mind remains aware and takes a conscious journey to the inner being. It is considered an initial stage for Samadhi or Moksha. Yes! Yoga nidra is known to lead to enlightenment. In fact, a single hour of Yoga Nidra is equivalent to many hours of quality sleep and is much more restorative and rejuvenating.

Benefits

It helps in relieving muscular, emotional, and mental tension.

Yoga nidra relaxes the mind by relieving stress and anxiety. It heals depression and nervous imbalances.

It treats insomnia, psychological disorders, and psychosomatic diseases. It is known to be used in the treatment of trauma and shock.

It trains the mind and helps in enhancing memory and increasing learning capacity.

Yogic sleep also results in increased energy levels.

It heals endocrine imbalances and ensures optimal functioning of the endocrine system.

Yoga nidra not only detoxifies the body, but also clears up the subconscious. It helps in releasing the ‘repressed matter’ from the subconscious.

It improves creativity.

It also leads to improved senses and more cultivated body awareness.

Yoga nidra restores the mind and body and leads to restructuring of the whole personality from within.

8 Stages of Yoga Nidra

Preparation

Sankalpa

Body Rotation

Breath Awareness

Sense Perception (Duality)

Visualisation

Repeat Sankalpa

Awareness

1. Preparation

Lie down on the mat, feet hips width apart, palms away from the hips and naturally curled. Let your body sink into the floor. Get comfortable. Shift and move a little to let your body settle deeper into the ground. Be comforted that at this time, everything is ok. You may make adjustments now to be completely comfortable.

Do not worry or become agitated if you do not hear everything I say. It is natural to flow in and out of conscious hearing. The deepest part of you, your core self, is always listening.

Create a sankalpa, an intention affirmation based on your hearts longing. A positive statement in the present tense, as though it’s already happening. State it three times as though it is already happening.

3. Body Awareness Rotation

Allow your awareness to travel through your body now on a journey of sensation. Simply feel each part as it is mentioned, and without moving, remain still. Welcome all sensation, just as it is.

Right side. Visualize the right hand thumb… index finger…middle finger… ring finger… little finger… feel the tips of the fingers… Be aware of your right palm… wrist… forearm… the right elbow… upper arm… the shoulder… the right chest… right side of the stomach…right waist… right hips… the thigh of the right leg… its knee…the calf muscles… the ankle… the heel… the sole… the right big toe… the second toe…the third toe… the fourth toe… the fifth toe… the whole right foot.

Left side. Now take your consciousness to the left side. Repeat as you did above with the right side.

Back. Your body is touching the floor… be aware of the points of contact between the body and the floor… Relax your heels… calf muscles… back of the knee… thighs… hips… lower back… upper back… right shoulder… left shoulder… shoulder blades… back of palms… back of the arms… the neck… and the back of the head…

Face. Be aware of the top of the head… the forehead… both sides of the forehead… the right eyebrow… the left eyebrow… the space between the eyebrows… the right eyelid… the left eyelid… right eyeball… left eyeball… right ear… left ear… right cheek… left cheek…the nose… upper lip… lower lip… and the chin…

Now move your awareness to your major body parts:

Bring your awareness on the main parts of the body… full right foot… left foot… feel both feet together… the right leg… the left leg… both legs together… full right hand… full left hand… feel both hands together… the right arm… the left arm… both arms together… your full back and spine…complete abdomen… chest… and the whole face… the face is totally relaxed and peaceful… now feel your whole head and body together.

Visualize your body lying down on the floor completely relaxed.

4. Breath Awareness

Now become aware of your natural and normal breath. The breath is coming in and going out freely… you move with the breath fully consciously.

With each inhalation, it is expanding…with each exhalation, it is sucking in… Now, as you are aware of your breath, start counting backwards with each in breath and each out breath, as follows:

Say the words and numbers mentally as you count your breaths. After completing the counts, pause for about 5 minutes if you started counting from 27 and for about three minutes if counting started from 10.

5. Sense Perception

Be aware of your body and of your sensations. Feel, with each inhalation, that cool air is entering your nose, and the body is becoming more energetic.

You are getting strength, power, courage, good health, and happiness.

Feel as with each exhalation, warm air is coming out of your nose, and you are releasing all the toxins, stress, ill health, all the weakness from your body. The body is becoming relaxed, and you feel as if you are sinking into the floor.

6. Visualisation

Mentally select a place of natural beauty, which you have ever visited and liked, such as a park, a garden, a lawn, or a riverside. Feel as if you are mentally present at that place. Take your mind to that place, and feel as if you lying at that place and are breathing the air of that environment. Keeping the mind involved with the same environment, feel as you are experiencing and enjoying the same happiness again.

7. Repeat Sankalpa

Now remember your heart’s longing statement. Repeat it again three times as the present truth, three times to yourself. It is the truth.

8. Return back to awareness

Notice your back body side of the body facing the earth. Notice all of the space surrounding you. Let your body expand wider into the space that surrounds you. Notice your breath. Feel its rhythm and pace. We are now completing relaxation practice. Before moving, sense your fingers and just imagine them moving. Now begin to wiggle your fingers, feeling every sensation as you do. Notice your toes. Begin to wiggle your toes.

Draw a deeper breath into your belly, into your chest. Rock slowly over to your right side in fetal position. Imagine that you are water, and pressing your left palm into the floor, flow, like a river up to a comfortable seated position.